Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...

'' is a Japanese

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released in 1978 by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

. It was developed by Tomohiro Nishikado, who was inspired by other media such as '' Breakout'', ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' and ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

''. It is one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

from a novelty to a global industry. It was first released as an

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

and later remade on different platforms; re-releases include

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

and updated versions. Ported versions generally feature different graphics and additional gameplay options, including moving defense bunkers, zigzag shots, invisible aliens, and

two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

modes. ''Space Invaders'' is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. Taito released numerous sequels and spin-offs, many of which have also been remade on multiple platforms, including home consoles and handheld devices. Follow up titles are typically released in celebration of the original's anniversary. The first sequels were primarily released in arcades, while later titles were released on portable devices. Sequels often added

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s and incorporated new gameplay mechanics—like

three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...

playing fields, bosses, and rhythm-action—to the original's design. Most titles were released internationally, though some are exclusive to select regions. The games have received different receptions: the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

port of the original became the video game industry's first "

killer app A killer application (often shortened to killer app) is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operati ...

", while some sequels were regarded as insignificant updates. ''Space Invaders'' and several of its arcade sequels are often included in video game compilations released by Taito. It inspired numerous other games. Many companies created clones that copied its gameplay, with more than a hundred ''Space Invaders'' clones released for various platforms by the early 1980s (such as ''

Super Invader ''Super Invader'' (also called ''Super Invasion'' and ''Apple Invader'') is a fixed shooter video game and a clone of ''Space Invaders''. It was written by Japanese programmer M. Hata for the Apple II and published by Creative Computing (magazi ...

'' and ''

TI Invaders ''TI Invaders'' is a fixed shooter video game published by Texas Instruments in 1981 for the TI-99/4A home computer. The game is a ''Space Invaders'' clone where the goal is to shoot all of the aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen. ...

''). Others built upon the original's gameplay (such as the ''Galaxian'' franchise).

Arcade games

Home console games

Portable and handheld games

Compilations

Other titles

References

External links

Official Taito site

via archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Invaders video games

Video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

Square Enix franchises Lists of video games by franchise Video games developed in Japan ja:スペースインベーダー